U.S virus surge won’t move north
Infection surge a warning, but not a cause for alarm
OTTAWA — Canadian experts looking at a surge of new COVID-19 cases in several U.S. states say it should be a warning to Canada, but not a cause for alarm.
Several U.S. states have seen huge spikes in COVID19 cases in the past weeks. On Friday, Arizona reported 3,217 new cases of the disease and Florida saw 4,049. In California, there were 4,351 cases, Texas saw 4,189 and Georgia saw 1,800 new cases.
All of these states have seen numbers higher than they have seen at any point in the pandemic, which is coming weeks after they allowed restaurants, businesses and even theatres to open up again. In many cases those businesses opened without the same distance requirements that are common in
Canada.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said they are following the situation south of the border closely and it should serve as a cautionary tale.
“We do see all of these kinds of trends as a warning signal for us again, reminding Canadians the virus is still around, very much around in many parts of the world including the U.S,” she said.
She said failing to maintain high standards around handwashing and social distancing could quickly cause a surge in new infections.
We do see all of these kinds of trends as a warning signal for us again
“We need to keep up and the moment we let go this virus could find some way of accelerating in our community.”
The provincial and federal governments came to an agreed set of guidelines for reopening that ensured cases were on a downward trend before a province reopened and that contact tracing and testing were available.
Georgia, one of the states now seeing a surge, was one of the first U.S. states to open its economy on April 24. On that day, when businesses reopened in the state there were 608 new cases reported, a month ago it had risen to 946 and as of Friday there were 1,800 cases.
Florida, Arizona, California, and Texas all began their reopening efforts in early May and are now seeing daily case counts that are two or three times as high as at any point in the pandemic.
Ontario and Quebec, Canada’s worst hit provinces, have started their reopening plans, but they have done so regionally and gradually compared to the U.S. states.
Toronto and Montreal, which were particularly hard hit, still have many restrictions in place.
Ontario saw 175 new cases on Sunday, while Quebec saw just 92.
Dr. Zain Chagla, a specialist in infectious diseases and an assistant professor at Mcmaster University, said everything he has seen from the U.S. indicates they simply opened up too fast.
“We saw a preview of what not to do in the United States is not just wait till you get a peak, let the cases drop a little bit and then open the door.”
He said there was clearly still community transmission in these states when the decision was made to reopen and the virus has been able to rapidly spread.
“Moving slower is probably a whole lot better than moving faster, as we’re seeing in the United States.”